Sunday, January 24, 2021 3:00 p.m.
Carver Arena, Peoria, Ill.

The Bradley Braves were picked to finish third in the 2020-21 MVC Men's Basketball Preseason poll, notching one first place vote. Winners of the last two consecutive conference tournament finals, Bradley lost some of their very best players of recent years to eligibility since last year-- feisty point guard Darrell Brown and rangy distance shooter Nate Kennell. As the top two members of Coach Brian Wardle's first full recruiting class, Brown and Kennell had combined for 3096 points in the four years they spent chiseled into Bradley's starting lineup.

Despite the loss of Brown and Kennell (not to mention 6'11" Koch Bar), Bradley fans were convinced that accomplished transfers, a healthy Elijah Childs and added experience would make up the difference. Junior shooting guard Terry Nolan, Jr. (from George Washington) and sophomore point guard Sean East II (from UMass) brought with them three years of experience playing in the A-10. Seven-footer Ari Boya had spent two years backing up Koch Bar and was ready for prime time. And after missing more than half the conference season last year, senior MVC first-teamer Elijah Childs was ready to go all out in his senior campaign.

The Braves looked pretty good out of the gate in November, knocking off Oakland and a very good Toledo squad in an MTE at Xavier. They even had their Big East hosts on the ropes, but Nolan missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with less than a second left and Xavier up one. Another missed front end of a 1-and-1 by freshman Jayson Kent lost the game for the Braves at #14 Missouri on Dec. 22. But for those two missed front ends of 1-and-1s, Bradley could have been 8-1 with road wins at Xavier and Missouri. And then Covid struck.

After a 19-day pause, Bradley picked up play after Covid with a road split at UNI, a sweep over Evansville at home, and a head-scratching blowout loss at Illinois State. The post-Covid Braves have been without Ari Boya (foot injury, day-to-day) since re-starting play. Boya had been in the starting lineup prior to the Covid pause.

The Braves are likely to start 6'8" senior forward Elijah Childs, 6'9" freshman forward Rienk Mast, 6'4" sophomore guard Ville Tahvanainen, and the transfer guards Nolan and East. Playmaker East has been averaging 8.5 points while dishing 4.3 assists. Nolan puts up 11.8 points per game and shoots more than half his shots from behind the arc; he was injured just before the Missouri game in December, and has come back shooting better from outside (43.3%) and averaging 13.0 points in conference play. Tahvanainen scored only six points in his two games against the Ramblers in his impressive freshman season last year, and he's averaging 8.2 points while leading the team in made threes as a part time starter this year.

Childs is obviously the key player for the Braves. He leads the team in points per game (14.6), rebounds per game (7.9), blocks per game (1.4), minutes per game (30.4), and field goal attempts. He's developed into a team leader, he passes well inside, and even hits about a third of his relatively rare shots behind the arc. Mast is a redshirt freshman who-- despite his 6'9" frame-- shoots almost half his shots from distance. Six-six junior forward Ja'Shon Henry is the top player off the bench, but did not play last time out at Illinois State because of a head injury. Other key bench players are 6'1" senior guard Danya Kingsby, 6'8" freshman forward Darius Hannah, and 6'7" freshman guard/forward Jayson Kent out of Oak Forest HS.

When Bradley cancelled their Jan. 3-4 series with Loyola because of Covid, the Ramblers had just defeated Illinois State convincingly to open conference play. Yet the Ramblers had yet to find their stride, were still figuring out rotations, and sometimes looked unprepared defensively. After the loss at Indiana State, Loyola has played with more surety and resolve. Thanks to four straight double-digit conference wins (including two on the road) and smothering defense resulting in two straight games setting opponent records for worst-ever MVC loss, the Ramblers appear to be rolling.

A key factor to watch for in the Loyola-Bradley matchup are the physicality of the Braves, especially playing at home. Elijah Childs and Ja'Shon Henry are both built like iron and know how to mix it up just short of a whistle. If Henry is available, he'll be a factor both offensively and defensively; he's averaged 7.4 ppg in his career against the Ramblers and likes to power to the basket. Tahvanainen, at 6'4" and 210, can set some bruising screens and pop out for a quick-release three. Opponents with length and rim protection have also been a problem for the Ramblers in the past, so Ari Boya's availability to play and Elijah Childs' foul situation will most likely have a significant effect on interior scoring opportunities. Bradley leads the MVC in field goal percentage defense (37.3%), and they're number one in the nation in two point field goal percentage defense (38.3%).


Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... 24_21_.pdf

Bradley game notes: https://bradleybraves.com/news/2021/1/2 ... onday.aspx

TV/Streaming video: NBC Sports Chicago, ESPN+ https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=6b ... f85f851f29

Internet audio feed: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=67&type=Live

Live stats: https://bradleybraves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary

Vegas odds: Loyola by 8

Thank you for the preview JCT

great preview...lots of good info..THis Bradley series has certainly turned into a rivalry...the game at Bradley last year was a classic, physical win for the Ramblers...glad Brown is gone....Childs is tough....he was the defender on Custer in the Tournament game in 18-19 that forced Custer to give it up.......interesting to me is that their freshman center has an outside game....this is what hurt us at Wisconsin. we will see if we have cleaned that up....if they go high/low with Childs down low..might be our opportunity to play Krut and Welch.......also interesting is Bradleys 2pt defensive field goal % indicates that Krut may be limited and we will need to get points elsewhere........

Should be a good game. I’m excited. For the more knowledgeable on the board, do you think there is any chance we start to get some AP love if we sweep these next two games? We are 25 in Kenpom right now, and if we keep playing the way we are, I’m cautiously optimistic that an at-large bid may even be a possibility.

I would be surprised if that happened*. Pleasantly surprised, but surprised nonetheless. Bradley isn’t really that good in terms of metrics this year, and is coming off a horrible loss to a terrible Illinois State team. So in the eyes of the media, we should be expected to win these games. These days, it seems like most media picks “a team” from a mid-major conference to possibly vote for, and right now Drake is that team they are watching in the MVC. Even though they haven’t played in a while.

*Unless we just completely run Bradley out of the building like we’ve done to Valpo and UNI. Doing that to three straight opponents will get people’s attention. But you can’t expect that in a road conference game, even without fans.

If we not only sweep them but blow them out, we’ll definitely get some votes.

Least favorite team in the conference, hoping for a beat down. Also because I took LUC -6.5, feels like a lock without Henry and Boya.

Couldn't ask for a better start. No Boya and Henry is really going to hurt BU, and Childs has a foul already.

Love the active hands on defense. What a start!

Run them out of their own gym.